The Haywain Triptych

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"Haywain (Painting)" redirects here. For the John Constable painting, see The Hay Wain.

Haywain is a triptych panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch, begun in 1485 and completed in 1490. The centre panel measures 140 by 100 cm, and the wings measure 147 by 66 cm. The Haywain triptych exists in two versions, one in El Escorial, the other in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. The outside shutters of the triptych are titled The Path of Life. They feature a character who is strikingly similar to The Wayfarer.

[edit] Overview and comparison with The Garden of Earthly Delights

The Haywain triptych has a similar narrative as the Garden. The left third shows the presence of God as he creates Eve. Unlike the Garden, though, a top to bottom chronology flows through the panel. At the top, the rebel angels are cast out of Heaven while God sits enthroned, the angels turn into insects as they break through the clouds. Under this, God presents himself on Earth when he creates Eve from the rib of Adam. Next, Adam and Eve find the serpent and the tree; the serpent offers them an apple. Finally, at the lowest part of the panel, the angel forces the two out of the garden. Adam converses with the angel; Eve looks ahead to the right in a melancholic pose.

The central panel features a massive wagon of hay surrounded by hundreds of figures who partake in a variety of sins, not just the sin of lust exploited in the Garden of Earthly Delights. With the center panel, a divergence from left to right occurs due to Bosch’s incorporation of Christ in the sky, not existent in the Garden. An angel on top of the wagon looks skyward, praying, whereas none of the other figures see Christ looking down on the world. The rightward bow of the figures around the wagon provides the force for the viewer’s eye to move with them on their journey, leading to Hell. The forward kinetic motion of the participants moves the viewer from present-day sin into unadulterated torture in the realms of Hell. The procession on the left side of this panel bends back into the middle ground, but the right side figures continue in a straight line as the wagon, giving the viewer a more evident progress into damnation.^[1]